


Murmuration

by EmiAliceinWonderland



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Birds, Boyfriends, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, M/M, Nature, Post-Canon, Spring, What am I doing with these tags, completely plotless, some swears because its ronan
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 09:04:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14422071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EmiAliceinWonderland/pseuds/EmiAliceinWonderland
Summary: It turns out that Opal is not, in fact, exaggerating about there being a lot of birds. When Adam opens the front door he pauses and then says: "Holy crap. That's a lot of birds."A moment later, Ronan is behind him, looking out upon the flock of small black creatures, growing steadily by the second. He raises an eyebrow, nods and then confirms: "A shit ton of birds."





	Murmuration

**Author's Note:**

> For the prompt "Ronan and Adam wake to find loads of extra birds/animals on the farm but for once it wasn't because of Ronan's dreams" from Lady_Monochromic who gave no additional context so I went with this random idea that ended up hella cheesy ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> \---
> 
> If you wanna see what inspired this fic look up starlings flying in formation on youtube, it's quite cool!

Spring comes quickly at  the barns, and it suits it. 

The sun shines over the outbuildings, in between stacks of hay, and through dappled branches of trees, bringing a warmth that's been missing throughout winter. The herds of deer, dreamt and real alike, converge together in groups to chew at the fresh grass that is revelling in the lack of snow and frost, and Opal spends 6am to 8pm outside almost every day, joyful and wild, just the way she's supposed to be. 

Spring is Ronan's favourite month, the weather nice enough to be outside but not so warm that his damn celtic skin gets red and sweaty and burned and black jeans become unbearable to wear. 

Spring is Gansey's birthday and Adam's soon after and friends being free from work or school for a break.

Spring is fresh breezes through the windows that Ronan can open to let the dust out.

Spring is Aurora popping up all around Ronan in the snowdrops, the crocuses, the daffodils, the bluebells; a sweet reminder of the most beautiful mother. 

Spring is longer days and lighter evenings, perfect for walking aimlessly along sidewalks and under streetlights, midnight trips to the 24/7 convenience store just to have an excuse to push Parrish far too fast in a shopping cart through an empty parking lot.

Spring is Opal screeching "KERAH! You dreamed a lot of birds!" in raucous excitement whilst she throws pebbles at Ronan's bedroom window to get him to wake up at 6:15am on a Saturday. 

\--

Adam wakes before Ronan, which isn’t unusual since he actually uses the night for sleeping unlike his perpetual insomniac of a boyfriend. Admittedly though, he had been hoping to get more of a lie in than - he squints at the alarm clock next to Ronan's bed - quarter past six in the morning on his first day back home for the spring break. The taps on the window and the squawking from what sounds like Opal and Chainsaw outside does not seem to be abating anytime soon though, and so, with a resigned sigh and the gritted determination that only someone grown painfully used to early morning lectures could have, he sits up and lets the hope of a lie in drift pitifully away. 

"Opal?" He calls out as he stands up and drags himself out of the bed, leaving behind a bare backed, sprawled out and sleeping Ronan Lynch. His voice is croaky from tiredness and is masked by a yawn, and a quick look out of the window in the small room makes it obvious that Opal definitely hadn't heard him. Through the open window something hard and small and fast is launched at Adam, hitting him square in the chest. 

" _Ow! Fuck!_ " Adam exclaims automatically, more at the surprise than any real pain. Ronan wakes at the noise and looks over, brow creased "what?" he asks sleepily at the same time that a shout of "Sorry, Adam! Meant to hit the window not you!" drifts up to the bedroom. Ronan and Adam look at each other, twin expressions of exasperation on their faces for a moment. 

Then, another shout from outside the open window: "Don't fucking swear, remember!" 

They erupt into laughter. 

\--

It turns out that Opal is not, in fact, exaggerating about there being a lot of birds. When Adam opens the front door he pauses and then says: "Holy crap. That's a lot of birds." 

A moment later, Ronan is behind him, looking out upon the flock of small black creatures, growing steadily by the second. He raises an eyebrow, nods and then confirms: "A shit ton of birds."

\--

Starlings. There are hundreds of them, flying in groups of formations like schools of fish in the sky, ducking and twisting and diving together in a way that Adam thinks can only be the product of a dreamer. 

Some are on land, converging to greet the deer and cows in the fields, hopping up to Chainsaw inquisitively. One flutters over to Adam and he holds back a yelp of surprise as the small creature perches on his shoulder. 

"Okay, Snow White," Ronan says, bemused but fond. (Adam doesn't know how he can talk when he's the one who holds kittens and mice and baby ravens in his hands like they're precious jewels). 

Ronan looks out across the fields of the barns, and the dawn sky above, his brows crinkling in concentration. 

"You remembering the dream?" Adam asks as he watches the other boy. 

"No," Ronan replies, "not at all, actually." His eyes focus in on the bird on Adam's shoulder. He looks at it for a long moment, and then back at the flock overhead. "I don't think those are dreams." 

"Huh?" Adam replies dumbly. 

"You heard me, Parrish, I didn't dream this," Ronan reinforces fore turning to Opal: "Hey brat, can't a dream detect other creatures of her kind? These are real." 

Opal huffs and looks wide-eyed over to Ronan. " _I'm_ real." 

"Debatable," Ronan shrugs.

Opal looks vaguely heartbroken until Ronan sighs and sticks his tongue out at her, pulling a funny face to get her to giggle. It's a little much to expect a supernatural child to  understand his dry sense of humour _all_ the time after all. 

“What are these then?” Opal asks eventually, gazing up in wonder at the bird still perched happily on Adam’s shoulder. “If you didn’t dream them, are they magic like Adam?”

Ronan smiles. The way Opal loves and revers Adam makes him happier than he’d ever care to admit, she knows he’s magic in every way even when Cabeswater isn’t physically around.

“I think they’re just...you know, part of the normal world,” Ronan eventually answers with a small chuckle, the irony of the fact that things not being magic or dreamt is now unusual to their strange little family does not go unnoticed.

“I’ve never seen these before,” Adam says, lifting a long slender finger to gently stroke across the feathers of the bird. It flaps its wings once and flies from his shoulder to join the others in the sky who are all forming together in a cloud now. For a moment Adam thinks the cloud looks like a swarm of bees and his heart pounds a little faster simply because of the connotations that that particular imagery has. But he relaxes again when he gazes in wonder across the Ronan, watching him watch the birds too.

“It’s like they’re all one animal,” he says softly as every single bird, joined together swoops and dives and plunges effortlessly through the sky, the sun rising in behind them as they appear to anticipate each other’s every move. It feels like a dream. It feels like the world hasn’t woken up yet and he and Ronan and Opal are the only ones who get to see this. Adam rests his head against Ronan’s shoulder as they stand, barefooted, pajama clad and still sleep hazed, watching the display for an indistinguishable amount of time.

It feels like magic.


End file.
